新澳门六合彩内幕信息

Scientists Discover New Ebolavirus in Bats in Sierra Leone

Currently No Evidence of Human Infection or Spillover

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Scientists with bat in West Africa
PREDICT's Ebola Host Project team safely and humanely collect samples from bats in the field. The team is active in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, where teams are sampling wildlife and domestic animals to learn more about potential host species for ebolaviruses. (Jaber Belkhiria/新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis)

Scientists have identified a novel ebolavirus in free-tailed bats in Sierra Leone, providing the strongest evidence to date that bats are the natural hosts of these viruses. The new virus, called Bombali virus, was found in insectivorous bats roosting inside people鈥檚 houses.

Based on laboratory experiments, researchers from the University of California, Davis, and the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University鈥檚 Mailman School of Public Health report that the virus has the potential to infect human cells but stress that it is not known whether it has actually infected people or if it is harmful.

The new virus was discovered by 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 One Health Institute working with Columbia鈥檚 Center for Infection and Immunity (CII), the government of Sierra Leone, the University of Makeni and Metabiota as part of the Ebola Host Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Tracey Goldstein, a professor at the One Health Institute at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis, said the project seeks to identify hosts of viruses like Ebola. The most recent Ebola outbreak in 2013-2016 killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa.

鈥淲hile we haven鈥檛 identified the source of the outbreak virus yet, we did find this new ebolavirus circulating in bats,鈥 Goldstein said. 鈥淏ombali virus is not the same strain that caused the 2013-2016 epidemic, but its discovery supports a growing body of evidence that bats are the most likely hosts for this group of viruses.鈥

The Sierra Leone government announced the finding earlier this week.

鈥淚dentifying viruses like Bombali virus and testing their capacity for human infection can enhance our understanding of the pre-emergent viral diversity circulating in animals,鈥 said  Simon Anthony, a virologist at CII. 鈥淲e want to discover viruses that have the genetic prerequisites for human infection and prioritize them for further study and intervention.鈥

Mysteries remain

Despite more than 40 years of research and continued outbreaks, it is still a mystery where these viruses 鈥渉ide鈥 between human outbreaks. This makes outbreak prevention a challenge. Emerging disease surveillance programs like PREDICT are contributing to global prevention and preparedness efforts.

鈥淭he Ebola virus outbreak in 2013-2016 devastated local communities here in Sierra Leone,鈥 said the Honorable Minister of Technical and Higher Education in Sierra Leone, Professor Aiah Gbakima, who was the lead investigator in Sierra Leone prior to his ministerial appointment. 鈥淚t is critically important to understand more about where these viruses come from and what causes them to spill over into humans. There is still much to do to understand the transmission dynamics of Ebola virus, but the discovery of Bombali virus in bats is an important step in the right direction.鈥

Killing bats not the answer

Brian Bird of the One Health Institute and global lead of the Sierra Leone team, emphasizes that people should not attempt to kill or eradicate bats in response to this discovery.

鈥淲hile bats have been implicated as reservoirs for a number of infectious pathogens, they play important roles as providers of ecosystem services through pollinating native and agricultural crops, reducing insect pests that also spread disease and damage crops, and consuming mosquitoes and other pests that feed on people and livestock,鈥 he said.

He stresses that 鈥渒illing or disturbing bats in their natural habitat could actually increase the risk of transmission of this new virus, as we have seen in studies of Marburg and rabies viruses.鈥

Researchers have been engaging with local communities throughout the project, and they continue to share plans, answer questions and discuss with communities how to reduce their risk of exposure to the virus.

Infected bats are not known to show signs of illness but can shed the virus in their saliva and feces. As a result, other animals and people can become infected if they touch live or dead bats, eat fruit on which bats have already chewed or if they come into contact with the urine or feces of infected bats.

Media Resources

Tracey Goldstein, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis One Health Institute, 415-902-1486, tgoldstein@ucdavis.edu

Kat Kerlin, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis News and Media Relations, 530-750-9195, kekerlin@ucdavis.edu

Tim Paul, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, tp2111@cumc.columbia.edu

Stephanie Berger, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, 917-734-8973, sb2247@cumc.columbia.edu

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